Rutgers SPAA Grants 300 Degrees for 2017!

Congratulations Graduates!

The School of Public Affairs and Administration granted 61 Bachelor of Arts degrees; 234 Master of Public Administration (MPA) degrees; and 5 PhD degrees for 2017.

At the May 17 commencement ceremony held at the Prudential Center, Board of Governors Distinguished Service Professor Alan Sadovnik proudly carried SPAA’s gonfalon as our blue-hooded graduates cheered. Graduates like Saad Admani (BA'17) shared their experiences on the stadium's big screens, and degrees were conferred to thousands of students. The ceremony was the final celebration in a week recognizing our students’ academic achievements, following the May 16 hooding ceremony for our doctoral students and the Pi Alpha Alpha induction and awards ceremony on May 15.

A total of 77 students were inducted into Pi Alpha Alpha, the national honor society for public administration, at the awards ceremony featuring keynote speaker Gayle Chaneyfield Jenkins, Central Ward Councilwoman in Newark, New Jersey. Chaneyfield Jenkins congratulated the graduates and offered words of encouragement as they pursue careers as public administrators: “You all are trailblazers, fight the good fight, and understand you are the ones who are going to make a difference." MPA graduates Ramsey Abdallah (MPA'17) and Cassandra Arnold (MPA'17) received the E. Drexel Godfrey, Jr. Memorial Award which is given each year to a deserving student who not only has reached high academic standards, but who embodies the values of public service as personified by Dr. Godfrey. The award is the namesake of the late Rutgers University-Newark professor Drexel Godfrey, who helped established the university’s graduate program in public administration in 1975 – one year after joining the faculty – and served as the director of the graduate public administration program. He also served as the Assistant Director for the CIA and the Director of the Justice Commission of the Governor of Pennsylvania.

At the commencement ceremony, SPAA and the RU-N community paid tribute to Mujahid Henry who lost his life days before he was set to graduate with a BA from SPAA. Henry’s father received his degree on behalf of his late son. <MPA? student Saad Admani was featured in a video prior to the conferering of degrees of SPAA students.> The graduates received praise and encouragement from commencement speaker Eboo Patel, chief executive officer of Interfaith Youth Core, who promoted the need for unity and progress in the face of adversity and division. Rutgers University-Newark Chancellor Nancy Cantor promoted a similar message, stating “…embrace difference and stretch the limits of belonging as far as they will go, because being yourself involves in no small part seeing lots of others in yourself.”

“College is a blueprint for the rest of your life, so choose your major wisely. Choose something you’re passionate about and you’ll do well and be happy in your career.”

"My best moment at Rutgers University-Newark was my advanced study trip to London in May 2016...Thanks to our professor, Larry Goldman, we had the chance to meet with politicians, lobbyists and other business professionals with an inside track to how Londoners felt about Brexit."

"You are not just a graduate student, you are an asset for future generations and SPAA is preparing citizens to run this wonderful country."

“I am thrilled to be using the skills and knowledge that I gained in my doctorate in teaching and research at Tilburg University. I hope to shape public administration scholarship and practice in a way that can be applied to contemporary challenges.”

"I vow to always serve the public with respect, dignity, and provide public value. Thank you, Rutgers and the School of Public Affairs and Administration, for giving me the tools to achieve my dreams and help make the world a better place."

"This MPA program was an eye opener in seeing how American governments and nonprofit organizations build their systems and what they exactly do to help people and communities."

"Reach out to professionals, professors, public figures, etc. The more you communicate with people, the better your conversational skills will become. Meeting others and creating relationships is just as important as doing well in your courses."